La critique britannique est unanime, la table Pro-Ject Essantial II est une référence dans sa gamme de prix.
What Hi-Fi?, 2013
Score: 5 Stars (on 5)
Comments of Note:
« The Essential 2 delivers a terrifically musical sound. »
« Radiohead’s 15 Step shows the Pro-Ject to have a firm grasp of rhythms and strong sense of drive. There’s plenty of punch and a good level of insight into the production. »
« The Essential doesn’t have the analysis to strip bare a recording like this, but neither does anything else at this level. What it does do is deliver the music in an exciting and entertaining way. It keeps us listening, wanting more, and that’s what makes this latest version of the Essential special. »
« We’re pleased by the deck’s scale and composure – these qualities aren’t very common with this kind of product. There’s a good amount of detail and enough refinement from that Ortofon cartridge to stop things getting edgy, too. »
« Pro-Ject has done it again. The Essential II is a frill-free entry-level product that gets all the basics spot-on. It’s easy to set-up and even easier to enjoy. It makes listening to records fun, and we can’t ask much more than that. »
« AGAINST – Nothing at this price. »
What Hi-Fi
Hi-Fi World, November 2013
Rating: 5/5 Globes
Comments of Note:
“This turntable is a straight-forward ‘plug-in-and-play’ unit…”
“The deck can be upgraded by fitting the Pro-Ject Speed Box S, costing £99. My experience with these quartz regenerative power supplies has been that they seem to add greater clarity to the sound, with a perceived increase in bandwidth and more sharply defined imaging, so this should be considered a worthwhile expenditure.”
“With the standard power supply the deck provided a smooth and reasonably detailed sound.”
“I quickly realised that this deck had an ability to produce rhythms in a [sic] infectious way that got my feet tapping along.”
“Individual instruments were clearly positioned on a fairly wide soundstage and the character of the sounds was portrayed with a level of detail that surprised me for such a modestly priced record player.”
“…the accompanying trumpet, drums, trombone, guitar and bass all seemed to share the spotlight equally with a zest in the reproduction of the performance that made for very enjoyable listening.”
“…I explored the deck’s abilities with more rocking, guitar driven sounds and found it to be in its element playing the Doors eponymously named first LP.”
“The rawness of Jim Morrison’s voice was accurately captured and displayed, surrounded by the band, on a stage that occupied about half of the space between the speakers.”
“The opening high hat and bassline of ‘Break on Through’ set the beat and it came out of the speakers as a solid and quite punchy sound.”
“The production values of this LP (Morcheeba – Big Calm) are quite big, and the Essential 2 rose to the occasion well, presenting me with a room filling sound that was very convincing. The weight of the bass was very good for a budget deck, and, as I had come to expect from this machine, was a powerful force in driving the music along I an effortless manner.”
“Where it really shone was in playing any form of popular music that is beat driven, be it jazz, rock or electronic. The deck had a slightly euphoric nature that seemed suited to such sounds, and should make your records sound very enjoyable.”
“…overall it was a pleasure to listen to.”
Hi-Fi Choice, October 2013
Sound Quality: 4 Stars (on 4)
Value For Money: 4 Stars (on 4)
Build Quality: 4 Stars (on 4)
Overall Score: 4 Stars (on 4)
Comments of Note:
“…the Essential captures the punch and attack of the performance and gives it plenty of space to breathe.”
“there is an impressive sense of timing and poise to the way the Essential goes about making music that gives it a sense of effortlessness compared with digital anywhere near the price.”
“The bass response is also pretty good and the Pro-Ject manages to avoid bloat or overhang with low notes and generally reveals an impressive amount of fine detail while it does so.”
“It manages to sound entertaining and musical across a wide variety of genres and it is easy to set up and get going.”
“A likeable piece of equipment, capable of punching well above its weight”
“Affordable; easy setup; decent sound”